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Wellington now styled 'Prince of Waterloo' was heaped with
honours and rewards, including, as a gift from a grateful
nation, his new country home Stratfield Saye in Hampshire.
Wellington made Apsley House - No 1 London - his town residence.
Returning from administering occupied Paris, he made a surprise
move to join Lord Liverpool's government as Master General
of the Ordnance.
During this period when he was part of a government faced
with tough choices, his popularity waned somewhat, especially
during the political crisis surrounding the accusations of
adultery levelled at Queen Caroline in 1820, and during the
suppression of the 'Peterloo' riots when a peaceful protest
in Manchester was violently broken up by soldiers. However,
he also undertook valuable work as a diplomatic envoy on the
continent at the Congress of Verona and at St Petersburg.
Lord Liverpool died in 1827 and was replaced by the reforming
Prime Minister George Canning. Wellington, regarded by many
observers as a high Tory of the old school - fearful of the
mob and resistant to political and social change - resigned
from the government. His absence was to be short lived, as
the sick Canning died soon afterwards, and his successor,
Viscount Goderich, proved incapable. Wellington stepped into
the breach and rode to Downing Street on his horse Copenhagen
as Prime Minister in January 1828, just months before chairing
the first public meeting for King's College London at Freemasons'
Tavern.
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